Between 2009 and 2011, Toronto Police entered 1,104,561 names into its carding database, according to the force’s own figures, a staggering effort disproportionately targeting minority groups. Toronto Police say they need carding to gather intelligence and prevent crime, but in doing so they resorted to tactics that sullied their public standing.

In recent months, the force's carding efforts have been reined in, thanks largely to intense community pressure. Under a new policy, Toronto officers must inform residents they have the right to walk away from a carding engagement at any time and conclude any such interaction by issuing a receipt.

While the carding controversy is confined to Toronto, documenting interactions with community members, also known as a “street check,” is common practice for major police forces across Canada. Rules guiding that process, however, are vague or non-existent in most cases.

A Globe and Mail analysis found the practice lacks a mandated set of procedures after 21 Canadian police forces answered questions about interacting with community members in their respective jurisdictions. Most spoke willingly with The Globe, but some, including Winnipeg and Calgary, refused to respond to questions on the matter.

The practice typically involves an officer stopping a community member, questioning them and entering information into a computer database.

By speaking to forces around the country, The Globe found the following:

On average, in 2014 police forces that spoke with The Globe had stopped 0.86 per cent of their jurisdiction's 2011 population.

The majority of police forces that disclosed to The Globe the length of time they keep records on community members who are stopped and questioned reported keeping records indefinitely.

All but two police forces interviewed by The Globe have no formal procedure in place to guide interactions between officers and community members who are stopped and questioned.

Most police forces in Canada call the practice a “street check.”

Most police forces in Canada use records management system Versaterm Inc.

Explore all the details from specific police forces below.

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Total street checks in 2014586

Total street checks in 2014586

Percentage of population stopped0.4

Percentage of population stopped0.4

How many years are records kept?Not tracked

How many years are records kept?Not tracked

Is a receipt issued?No

Is a receipt issued?No

Are citizens advised of their right to disengage?No

Are citizens advised of their right to disengage?No

What is the purpose of street checks?"[In short,] trying to determine what [someone is] doing and why they’re doing it," said Abbotsford Police Department Public Information Officer Ian MacDonald.

What is the purpose of street checks?"[In short,] trying to determine what [someone is] doing and why they’re doing it," said Abbotsford Police Department Public Information Officer Ian MacDonald.

What is the procedure for street checks?No formal procedure. "We don’t have specific policy in regards to … I would say that falls somewhere within discretion," said Abbotsford Police Department Public Information Officer Ian MacDonald.

What is the procedure for street checks?No formal procedure. "We don’t have specific policy in regards to … I would say that falls somewhere within discretion," said Abbotsford Police Department Public Information Officer Ian MacDonald.

Canadian software powers data collection

Lost in the debate over how police extract and record information from people not suspected of a crime is any mention of the duelling Canadian tech companies that have cornered much of the North American market for police record management.

More than 120 major police forces around the world use platforms from Ottawa-based Versaterm or Winnipeg-based Niche Technology to store and analyze police intelligence. They go from the small, such as Moose Jaw Police Service with just 54 sworn officers, up to the Queensland Police Service in Australia with more than 11,500 members.

Five years ago, Toronto picked Versaterm to manage all its records at an estimated cost of $24.5-million, adding undeniable heft to a company that was founded in 1977 by a group of former RCMP employees who had created the Canadian Police Information Centre, the national police database better known as CPIC.

Niche, meanwhile, provides software to seven of the 25 largest police forces in the English-speaking world: the Ontario Provincial Police, the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Police Service of Northern Ireland, to name three. Launched in 1992, the company makes products that are used by nearly half of all Canadian police officers, roughly one-third of officers in the United Kingdom and Australia, according to the company’s website.

Both systems allow for “street checks” from officers in the field. After an officer files information to the records management system, the information can be manipulated in a number of ways. If a robbery is committed in a given area, for instance, a crime analyst can superimpose all street-check information over a map to determine where certain people or vehicles were located when the robbery took place as a way of identifying or ruling out potential suspects.

“There has been a lot of crime solved by being able to put someone in a specific area at a specific time,” said Versaterm CEO Warren Loomis. “It just has to be used properly.”

Like everything in tech, the trend in police records management is toward mobility. Versaterm is working on location-based software that would essentially give officers a police version of the popular app foursquare.

“As they’re driving down the street, the system will tell them, ‘Hey, there’s someone on this block with an outstanding warrant,’” Mr. Loomis said. “That’ll provide better community safety by giving officers more actionable information and more intelligence.”

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